Alfonso Interpretinghttps://alfonsointerpreting.com
Elegant Solutions to Common Safety & Language ProblemsFri, 17 May 2019 17:34:00 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.1https://alfonsointerpreting.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cropped-big-logo-1-32x32.pngAlfonso Interpretinghttps://alfonsointerpreting.com
3232Medical Interpreter Attentivenesshttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/medical-interpreter-attentiveness/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/medical-interpreter-attentiveness/#commentsFri, 17 May 2019 17:33:59 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4557Medical Interpreter Attentiveness Read More »]]>The following is a scenario that unfolds on a regular
basis. I arrive to interpret at a physical
therapy appointment. They call the patient in to begin, and I accompany him.
Step 1 is to begin at the treadmill for about ten minutes. As the patient is walking
on the treadmill, I stand nearby. The therapist offers me a chair; I say no
thank you. I will get offered that chair another twenty times during that
appointment. I typically explain that as an interpreter, I must be ready to do
my job at any moment. Standing ready to do so near the patient is the best way
to do so.

At some point, the patient is given a box to carry and circles
the location repeatedly. I walk along with the patient as he does this.
Remember, I am compensated to serve as an interpreter and convey what is being
said. Doing this doesn’t just include the direct conversation between the
patient and the healthcare professional. As we walk, another patient makes a
comment to him that I must interpret. Within the therapy location, a group conversation
ensues between several therapist and patients about the recent World Cup. My
patient is Hispanic and has much to say about that. The other participants have lots of comments
and questions themselves. I am busy interpreting all of that.

So, there I am standing attentively near by to interpret at
any moment constantly getting offered a chair.
Then one day I am told the nicest thing after refusing a chair. The
therapist stated that he was having a conversation with his colleagues about
me. He said that they like me because I am always attentive and communicate
everything. I was told that most
interpreters usually accept the chair and stay seated looking at their phone or
iPad during the appointment. They often
miss conversations and only come when they are called to address something
medical. The other complaint I heard is that they often abbreviate instead of
saying everything. It fosters a feeling among providers and patients that the
interpreters might be excluding vital information.

I find myself interpreting conversations about sports,
family, food, work, and so many other subjects not related to healthcare. Why
is this so important? If the patient doesn’t understand what others are saying,
he might suspect they are talking about him. If it is soccer, maybe they are,
but not in a negative way that he might assume.
The patient becomes part of the greater community and he feels at ease.
Remember, an interpreter places the limited English proficient patient on equal
footing with the rest of the people at the clinic. All of this promotes good
healing as is strengthens the relationship between the patient and healthcare
provider.

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/medical-interpreter-attentiveness/feed/1SC Judicial Department’s Need for a Uniform Standard in Scheduling Interpretershttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/sc-judicial-departments-need-for-a-uniform-standard-in-scheduling-interpreters/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/sc-judicial-departments-need-for-a-uniform-standard-in-scheduling-interpreters/#respondFri, 10 May 2019 11:12:20 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4545SC Judicial Department’s Need for a Uniform Standard in Scheduling Interpreters Read More »]]>In South
Carolina courts, who is responsible for scheduling an interpreter? One would
think that this could all be done through one central office that oversees the interpreter
services in all South Carolina courts, right? Not so fast. Only Massachusetts
has a central office that schedules interpreters for all state courts.

Usually, a county
clerk of court contacts the interpreter. Most interpreters are fine with this
arrangement. Indeed, interpreters may also request the clerk of court to have
the judge sign form SCCA 262 (or 262F) in advance; if the judge executes the
order, they have assurances that they will probably get paid. There is a
discrepancy in how summary, magistrate, and municipal court clerks schedule
interpreters and their knowledge of locating interpreters for languages other
than Spanish (LOTS).

Often,
attorneys have a need for an interpreter for their clients in court.. In
Greenville County General Sessions, they are typically directed to contact an
interpreter on the South Carolina Court Interpreter Directory.. When this happens,
new issues arises. Is it easy for counsel to locate the certified interpreters?
Will Court Administration pay for the interpreter or will the attorney? Often,
the attorney assumes that the court is responsible to pay, and he may assume
wrong.

South
Carolina court typically pays for criminal cases and family court (DV, DSS, divorce
and child custody), but not for civil court hearings and trials. Since certified
court interpreters aren’t pro bono practitioners; their services aren’t free. They
must determine beforehand who will pay for their services, in writing.
Regardless of who is contacted, it will be helpful to you to complete this
form first and then send it by e-mail. If you have a civil matter in court,
you will receive a proposal, execute it, and pay for professional services
rendered.

If you need
an interpreter for a language that doesn’t appear in the South Carolina directory,
your first step is to call the clerk of court in the particular court for
information. If your clerk cannot locate
an interpreter in that language, call South Carolina Court Administration’s Deputy
Director, Court Reporters and Court Interpreters, Karama T.
Bailey.

Until
uniform standards are implemented in South Carolina’s judicial department with
trained schedulers, you’ll need to follow the steps above.

Every
company has a certain amount of federally- or state-mandated required training.
For example, the following is a list of subjects that OSHA® requires
company to cover annually. The list is not exhaustive.

Many public-sector employees are often
required to take occupational health and safety trainings and refreshers. Some
state laws require both public and private companies to provide sexual
harassment training to employees. In South Carolina, many companies are
proactive about the training.

Most
of the OSHA®-required training we provide directly in English and
Spanish. However, we also provide professional conference (simultaneous) interpreters
in a variety of languages for your training needs as well.

In
the case of OSHA®-mandated training, OSHA® requires that
training be done in the language best understood by the workers. Therefore,
they must have a trainer in their language.
Otherwise, professional interpreters familiar with OSHA® and
safety will be needed. Per OSHA®
rules, training with interpreters doubles the time, resulting in much higher
training costs. When this need arises, please send us an e-mail to answer any
questions.

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/interpreting-for-mandatory-training/feed/0Integrating Safety Value to Promote a Strong Safety Climate – Part Ihttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/integrating-safety-value-to-promote-a-strong-safety-climate-part-i/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/integrating-safety-value-to-promote-a-strong-safety-climate-part-i/#respondSun, 28 Apr 2019 22:02:38 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4500Integrating Safety Value to Promote a Strong Safety Climate – Part I Read More »]]>In the previous two blogs, we discussed the importance of management
and leadership setting the right example to promote a strong safety culture. We
talked about the fact that many companies say that safety is their number one
priority. However, their actions reveal a very different thing. Therefore, we consider
in this article how a company can incorporate safety into its policies procedures
and programs.

Safety must be integrated into all aspects of the company’s
activities if it’s going to claim that safety is a core principle. Safety
expectations must be set high. The company must clearly communicate those
expectations, and the message must be consistent. Cost and productivity can be
huge pressures that fight against safety, but they don’t have to be. A well-designed safety program accounts for these
pressures and create safety protocol that cannot easily be altered. If safety
is truly valued, it will not be impacted by productivity or cost
pressures.

I often hear stories of supervisors who regularly preach
safety. However, when company pressures arise, they don’t practice what they
preach and turn a blind eye when employees begin to cut corners. This sets a
bad example and an awful precedent, leading employees to believe that they can
choose when to work in an unsafe manner if they think it’s convenient.

I am thinking of a couple of companies that have great
reputations for safety. They have these great reputations because they set high
standards and are consistent in enforcing them. the first example is Prizma,
formerly known as Greenville Health System. Before anyone can begin work on Prizma
property, a safety orientation is required. During that orientation,
expectations are clearly defined. For
instance, if any person is walking around without a hardhat, that one will be
sent home. If it happens again, that person is sent home permanently. After implementing strict compliance, everyone
fell in line. They rarely have a safety infraction and accidents are almost
non- existent.

BMW is another Upstate company known for setting high safety standards and holding people accountable. I have been told by a few customers that they were sent home and replaced by another crew as a result of breaking a rule.

Part II will discuss ways that companies can integrate
safety into their business plan and practices.

As mentioned in previous blogs, South Carolina has a shortage of certified court interpreters, especially in languages other than Spanish (LOTS). Even if approximately two dozen Spanish interpreters were enough, the fact is that they often prefer to turn down assignments. This means that the actual pool of available certified interpreters is a lot less than the already tiny amount of 31 certified court interpreters in South Carolina. SC is a member state of the Council of Language Access Coordinators.

This means that the South Carolina courts choose to retain whichever bilingual, otherwise qualified person is available for the assignment. Certified interpreters have passed an oral certification exam which proves they meet the minimum requirements for proficiency (see page 1, ¶3 of the Test Construction Manual). There is no guarantee for what you’ll get with an uncertified interpreter.

Why do many South Carolina certified interpreters feel unmotivated to accept assignments? Also, why are so many other interpreters unmotivated to become certified in the first place? The simple answer is that they aren’t compensated enough for their services. Remember that interpreters are not running a charity; however, they are often treated as though they are.

Here are some answers. South Carolina currently pays $45 an hour for certified (spoken and sign) interpreters. Many interpreters simply jump the border to North Carolina or Georgia where they can earn $40-$70 per hour (and NC reimburses them for half their travel time at the hourly rate).

When an interpreter accepts a court assignment in South Carolina, he or she will dress and travel to the court. Interpreters often reject direct, higher-paying offers after accepting that assignment. While everyone is present and ready to perform their tasks, a case settles, and the interpreter is told he is no longer needed and can leave. Everyone in that room, the lawyers, the judge, the court reporter, the bailiff, all of them will be paid. However, the interpreter will be dismissed without compensation. I know many interpreters who refuse court assignments just for this reason alone. After all, there is a high risk of lost opportunity cost.

It is true that South Carolina courts do not pay for interpreters travel, wait time or cancellations (South Carolina Court Administration’s Memorandum to County Clerks and Summary Court Judges, February 1, 2013 and Memorandum dated August 24, 2015. It is also true that the March 2015 State of South Carolina Judicial Branch Office of Court Administration Language Access Plan does not mention nonpayment of interpreter travel, wait time, or case cancellations. Judges have little, if any, training on hearing interpreter cases first to eliminate wait time. Additionally, court interpreters also do not have agreements with South Carolina Court Administration (SCCA) to outline what is and is not compensated. After interpreters have lost gas money and opportunity cost, and been sent out uncompensated, professional interpreters are also not obligated to accept the assignment. It works both ways.

If an interpreter living in Simpsonville is requested in Greenville General Sessions in the morning and Anderson Family Court in the afternoon, SCCA will usually not reimburse travel mileage for Anderson. Yes, that’s right. The interpreter drove 64 round-trip miles out of county and lost $37.12.

Travel time is also not reimbursed. If it takes the interpreter 45 minutes to arrive in Anderson and 45 minutes to return home, that is one and a half hours of travel time. The Greenville assignments lasts one hour and 15 minutes; the Anderson assignment is 30 minutes. The interpreter is compensated for the daily minimum of two hours interpreting but also loses half of the 90-minute travel time. Subtract the nonpayment of 45 minutes travel between courthouses along with no mileage reimbursement, and the true total compensation is just $19.13. Certified interpreter fees are much higher than what the courts pay, just as lawyer fees are much higher than when the judge assigns her to represent an indigent defendant. Certified Spanish interpreters can typically earn $200-$300 for a simple deposition. It is infinitely more profitable to accept any assignment in the private sector than to take on additional, low-paying work at the courts that doesn’t even reimburse travel time and mileage. Therefore, in the interest of gainful employment and self-preservation, interpreters often refuse more court work on the same day.

Another standard practice in court interpreting is to pay a 24 to 48-hour cancellation fee for the minimum scheduled (PA, CA, NJ, NC, MN). Why? As mentioned previously, once an assignment is accepted, any other work offers must be declined. Often much more profitable work is turned down because the court assignment was accepted. For this reason, other states pay some type of minimum cancellation fee. SCCA does not compensate for last-minute cancellations, which influences certified practitioners to develop more reliable, profitable relationships elsewhere.

The final straw: no parking reimbursement. So far, most or all practicing court interpreters must pay their own parking fees when called or subpoenaed to court. Paying for a parking garage isn’t cheap. When you consider all payment woes and add parking cost, you have yet another reason for interpreters to feel indifferent toward court assignments.

As you can see, the professional service language interpreter budget is the primary problem when it comes to accessing interpreters who meet the minimum standards of competency. Language access is not a vision; it is a necessary judicial expense. Utilizing otherwise qualified interpreters, including those who have proven they cannot pass the court interpreter oral certification examination, does NOT increase language access, but rather offers a false sense of security that actual communication is taking place when it is not. Only certified court interpreters ensure the courts that effective exchange occurs, which comply with equal access to the courts for LEP individuals and South Carolina Anti-Discrimination of Law. The mandate requires the judicial department to be in the business of ensuring effective language access, not presenting warm bodies which give the impression that language access is being provided.

The result is an impaired justice system, reflected by its National Justice Composite index of 30.96/100 (40 out of 51) and a Language Access Index of 24.72/100. Our international community, brought by large corporations, who has boosted SC’s economy has the real potential to be seriously mistreated because they lack basic access to justice required by South Carolina law. Is that any way to treat our neighbors?

Notwithstanding the foregoing, there are other issues indirectly linked to budget. Stay tuned for civil court and team interpreting issues.

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/the-biggest-court-interpreting-problem-in-sc/feed/0Requesting a certified interpreterhttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/requesting-a-certified-interpreter/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/requesting-a-certified-interpreter/#respondFri, 12 Apr 2019 23:57:45 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4483Requesting a certified interpreter Read More »]]>The National Certification for Healthcare Interpreters first
began issuing credentials in 2011. In those seven years, it has continued to
grow. For the past four or five years, I have been consistently encouraging the
use of certified interpreters.

The problem is that if there aren’t any or many to choose
from, people will revert to what they have always done.

December 26, 2018: I
am shocked! For the first time, our office manager contacts me to inform me
that a client has requested a certified healthcare interpreter for a physical
therapy appointment!

I can’t believe what I’m hearing! This is big news! I know
it doesn’t seem like much, but I see this as the beginning of many years of
hard work. For the first time, one organization is making it a point to first
request certified interpreters. All the public education on the matter is
starting to penetrate.

Soon enough, I can Imagine the trend growing. Hopefully in a
few more years, more interpreters will feel motivated to seek out certification
because of the high demand for it. The more people request certified
interpreters, the bar for higher standards is raised higher. The higher the
demand, the more effort people will make to fill the need.

Eventually, if there are enough certified interpreters and
it becomes standard practice to use them, utilizing a certified interpreter
will become a requirement, much like a lawyer must have a license to practice
law.

Here we go, the ball is rolling!

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/requesting-a-certified-interpreter/feed/0Interpreting for development traininghttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/interpreting-for-development-training/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/interpreting-for-development-training/#respondSun, 07 Apr 2019 23:05:33 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4477Interpreting for development training Read More »]]>A positive company culture and
safety environment are not always easy to accomplish. The larger the company,
the more diverse the workforce, the greater the potential exists for
difficulties arise. This is especially the case when you also add an immigrant
workforce with the language barrier. All these different backgrounds and
cultures often create a recipe for conflict at the workplace.

What one person considers to be
harmless humor, may offend another. Many companies find themselves having to
offer sexual harassment training. Why? Because even when it comes to something
as serious as sexual harassment, what some consider to be highly offensive,
other people might think it’s nothing. I often see different ethnic groups banding
together instead of integrating with the rest of the work team. At times, there
might be difficulty communicating because of the language. However, often I
find the problem to be cultural. Training can be done to help employees bridge
those gaps to foster a more unified workplace.

Although people are hired to perform
certain job tasks, the way they act often turns out to be just as important is
the skill and knowledge they have for the jobs they perform. Soft skills
development training enables employees to interact effectively with one another
in a harmonious way. Employees learn to work with one another, management, and customers
so that everyone can get along. For some people, these types of working
relationship skills must be learned and don’t come naturally.

When employees work well together,
morale, productivity, and profits soar. When employees are content, they tend
to stay in the workplace, reducing high turnover rates. The longer an employee
stays at his position, the more efficient and effective he is at that job. It
can be an exceedingly difficult thing to transfer that type of knowledge to
other newer employees. It takes time to gain experience.

Whether they are new or have many
years of experience, employees can benefit from a respectful and collaborative
culture. Ultimately, businesses are in it to make money, but they must have a
happy and efficient workforce in order to do so and be successful.

We have had experience teaming up
with companies to provide a conference interpreting team for these types of
soft skills training. In fact, we have teamed up with attorneys who specialize
in sexual harassment training.
Alfonso Interpreting also provides company
surveys that we use to develop plans for training supervisors and leaders.
Often the programs we develop focus on improving communication skills and
better understanding of diversity.

Employees
need to observe real safety commitment from their leaders. If they are not
convinced, they will not take it to heart. The following recommendations are
important for every company leader to examine closely.

Obey restricted areas, no smoking areas, no cell phone requirements at the site or driving

Following
the rules is vital. You might reason that you are just doing a brief walk
through, but employees only see you as an office elitist breaking the rules. Although
legally a person might be able to do a brief inspection on a roof without tying
in, employees aren’t considering the legal nuance. They see you making an
exception to the rule. So, if you can do it, why can’t they?

2. Be visible

Often, employees only see their direct supervisor; periodic management visits send a strong message that you care

When management rises and follows number 1, employees will take to heart what they say

Speak with workers and listen to concerns

Employees will more likely value this effort, take the message to heart, and apply it

3. Participate in meetings

Leaders and management should actively participate in meetings:

Discuss and review hazards

Initiate discussion on safety in other meetings as well

Encourage direct communication between employees and management

Taking these actions are effective in demonstrating to all employees that the company values them and understands safety

4. Have safety policies, procedures, and guidelines that are aligned with other company priorities

When employees
see safety built into the fabric of company operations, they will trust that
the company values them and their safety.

5. Have a formal process for corrective action

Don’t play the “blame and shame” game

Take all employee safety concerns seriously and promptly address them

Have a formal process for reporting and responding to safety concerns

Conduct investigations on accidents, incidents or employee concerns; determine the root, cause not someone to blame

Review all incident reports, determine contributing factors, and communicate their findings to all employees

Have a process to show employees how issues raised are addressed to validate concerns and improve morale

Track hazards and injuries to identify systematic problems and trends in safety

If employee concerns
are ignored, or if there is retaliation, they will be less likely to report
hazards in the future. However, having a formal action plan that responds to
employee concerns reflects a strong commitment to safety and reinforces the
message that employee contributions are valued. Employee involvement helps to
create a positive safety culture.

6. Job Hazard Analyses

Conduct job hazard analyses using safety audits or other tools

Safety audits help identify where changes to processes and products are needed to eliminate hazards

Encourage employees to proactively identify hazards and report close calls and injuries

This should be rewarded, not punished

7. Investment

Put your money where your mouth is; written safety policies and procedures must include enough resources (money) to implement and maintain an effective safety program

Allocate resources for:

OSHA 10 and 30 training for everyone in the company

Purchasing and providing appropriate PPE for everyone on jobsites

Investing in a kit for collecting and analyzing information on incidents and near miss data and reporting changes

In the end,
talking and having a written document is meaningless
if the company doesn’t demonstrate its commitment to prevention and continuous improvement
by actions.

8. Consider immigrant employees

Extra effort is be required to assure them that they are valuable members of the team

Remove language barriers.

Using a professional interpreter

Training in their language

Making SDS sheets available in their language

Confidentially survey them to determine bias and concerns that they have

Hispanics are 30 percent of construction workforce and have a disproportionately higher percentage of injuries. To ignore this in your safety program is to leave a wide-open gap for potential problems.

Well, hot
dog! We just considered 8 ways for management and leadership to set the
example. This is just the first piece to
a much larger puzzle when evaluating the safety culture/climate of a company.

Please share
with me your opinions below.

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/safety-climate-reflects-leadership-part-2/feed/0Certified Legal Translator?https://alfonsointerpreting.com/certified-legal-translator/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/certified-legal-translator/#respondSun, 31 Mar 2019 00:17:45 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4461Certified Legal Translator? Read More »]]>In
the United States, there is no such designation of Certified Legal
Translator. Translators deal with the written word; interpreters deal
with the spoken word. Below are the only designations in the US dealing
with law and language:

Federally Certified Court Interpreter:
must perform the three modes of court interpreting: sight
translation and simultaneous and consecutive interpretation of discourse, all
of which must reflect the correct form and content of authentic interpreting
functions encountered in the federal courts. Accordingly, the interpreter
is required to demonstrate the ability to effectively carry out these functions
bi-directionally. Test items include both formal and informal/colloquial
language, technical and legal terminology, and special vocabulary or other
specialized language use which is part of the active vocabulary of a highly
articulate speaker.

State
Certified Court Interpreter: must be able to do sight translation,
simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.

Otherwise
Qualified Court Interpreter (SC): an interpreter who does not possess the minimum
standards of proficiency for court interpreting (never took or never passed the
oral exam).

Conditionally Approved Interpreter (NC): an interpreter who scored between 60-69% on oral exam who has two years to become certified or is removed as a court interpreter.

ATA Certified Translator: produces a translation that demonstrates compliance with specifications, understanding of the overall content, purpose, and argument of the source document, competent familiarity, and good writing in the target language.

Please remember that if someone completes a certificate program, that does not bestow certification on that individual. Only the US Administrative Office of Courts and the member states of the National Center for State Courts certify court interpreters.

]]>https://alfonsointerpreting.com/certified-legal-translator/feed/0The Triathlon of simultaneous interpretinghttps://alfonsointerpreting.com/the-triathlon-of-simultaneous-interpreting/
https://alfonsointerpreting.com/the-triathlon-of-simultaneous-interpreting/#commentsFri, 29 Mar 2019 23:08:33 +0000https://alfonsointerpreting.com/?p=4452The Triathlon of simultaneous interpreting Read More »]]>So far, I have completed two sprint triathlons. My goal to
prepare myself for a larger one soon.
When I first tried to run my first mile, I barely made it and was out of
breath. The first hill I tried to take on a bike resulted in my collapsing and
falling sideways halfway up the hill; I was out of breath before I could even
complete one lap in the Olympic sized pool. With much practice and Pointers from
others with experience, I continued to make improvements. The biggest issue that must be managed when
participating in a triathlon is fatigue.

This is obvious for a physically taxing activity or a sport,
but many people don’t realize that the same principle applies to deeply focused
mental activity. What simultaneous interpreters do might look easy because they
have conditioned their minds to perform at an elite level, much like a highly
conditioned triathlete. Nevertheless, highly professional simultaneous interpreters
must still manage mental energy levels and fatigue.

What makes simultaneous interpreting so taxing on the mind
that I would compare it to a triathlon?

The swim (act of interpreting)

The act of interpreting is a challenge because
one must attentively listen to all the information in the source language,
retain it, understand it, and then render it into an entirely different (target)
language with perhaps a completely different sentence structure. This requires the interpreter to be an expert
in both languages.

The bike ride (Complicated Terminology)

The interpreter must be familiar with the
complicated terminology being used. If it is in court, we are talking about
complicated legal terminology for each language. Not all countries have the
same type of court system, so that increases the difficulty level like riding a
bike up a steep hill.

The run (Concentration required for
simultaneous)

It is challenging enough to render an entire
language into another. Now try doing this instantly while the person is still
talking. There are few people capable of listening carefully, processing what
is being said and then rendering it orally into another language while
continuing the cycle without missing a beat.
Just reading this paragraph should cause you to imagine smoke coming out
of the brain.

Scientific studies have shown that cognitive fatigue begins
to set in within 20 to 30 minutes of simultaneous interpreting. Therefore, just
like athletes must manage endurance in order to keep going, simultaneous
interpreters must also do the same. How do they manage fatigue?

The only real way to manage mental fatigue is to give your
mind a break. The professional standard practice
https://www.astm.org/Standards/F2089.htm
for court and conference interpreters is to work in teams if the case will take
long. Taking turns allows interpreters to allow the mind a recess to reset and recover
for the next turn at it. This doesn’t mean the interpreter does nothing. The
mind still works, serving in a support role for the active interpreter. The
active interpreter may need water, or an unfamiliar term may surface. Although the mind is still working and
supporting the other interpreter, it is still considered a break because the
cognitive functions of working memory and language reconstruction, among
others, aren’t being utilized at the elite level that it is at the time of
performance. Think of it as walking instead of sprinting. You are still going
but can catch your breath for the next run.

It is often difficult to convince courts and attorneys that
team interpreting is necessary. They often feel that it is an unnecessary
expense. This is a common problem with South Carolina Courts. You might even reason that who cares if the
interpreter is getting tired just so long as the work gets done. He shouldn’t whine,
he is getting paid for his services. Who
cares if the judge is tired, as long as she gets her work done? Who cares if the attorney is tired, as long
as he gets the job done?

The reality is that just as physical fatigue will affect the
performance of an athlete, mental fatigue will affect the performance of the
interpreter (and the judge and the attorneys).

Mental fatigue can cause an interpreter to make grave
mistakes and result in terrible errors and omissions. Secondly, the same cognitive exhaustion could
result in the interpreter’s inability to recognize his mistakes. If you don’t catch your mistake, you cannot
admit it and correct it. The result could be a mistrial or a grave error in
judging the case.

We must respect each other’s profession. Just as there are standards for judges and
lawyers, so too for interpreters. Those
standards exist to ensure justice for all.